All active wells which pump greater than 50 gallons per minute, within the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) boundaries, are required to have a flow meter installed.

The board decided at their January 24th meeting to move forward with sending out compliance notifications to the owners of irrigation wells impacted by the meter installation requirement who have yet to install a meter on their well.

LENRD General Manager, Mike Sousek, said, “We have been working diligently with well owners in our district to help them understand the installation requirements, and have provided financial assistance to many property owners to incentivize them to install water meters. Irrigation well owners had a deadline of January 1, 2018, while all other high-capacity well owners had until January 1, 2019 to get their meters installed.”

Sousek said, “We are here to answer your questions and develop a plan. We know there are cases where excavation may need to occur after the ground thaws, and we are working with those individuals. If you still need to install your meter, and you haven’t developed an installation timeline and plan with our staff, you will be receiving correspondence that articulates the next steps.”

Those individuals who receive a compliance notification in the mail will have until April 1, 2019 to install their meters, if they wish to irrigate in 2019. If meters are not installed by April 1, a notice of intent to issue a cease and desist order will follow. The letter will also provide reference to the consequences that could occur, if a well owner elects to ignore the requirement.

Sousek continued, “Some individuals may still be asking, why meters? The board has long supported the use of flow meters as another groundwater management tool by first adopting an installation requirement for any new high capacity well in July of 2007. After the drought of 2012, it became very evident that we needed to be proactive in the management of our groundwater since numerous in-season shortages were reported across the district, from all types of groundwater users (irrigators, public water supply systems, livestock, and domestic) with a high number of impacts being felt in Madison, Pierce and Wayne Counties during the 2012 irrigation season. Quantity management sub-areas were delineated within those counties which required the installation of flow meters on irrigation wells. More recent changes to the District’s Rules and Regulations for Groundwater Management made flow meter installation mandatory on all other high capacity wells effective January 1, 2018 for irrigation wells and January 1, 2019 for other types of high capacity wells located within the District. With meters installed across the district, we can be better equipped to handle a drought and share the water in a manageable way. Meters not only protect the farmers, the domestic users, and the cities, but they also protect the resource.”

Sousek said, “The meters protect current water users and allow for the development of new water users. They provide a fair and equitable measurement that will allow the LENRD to manage groundwater and provide policies that concentrate on sharing our most precious resource among all users. Should allocations ever be needed, all stakeholders will be treated equally through the meter program. Meters can also be a very effective learning tool in measuring how much water is needed to grow a crop.”

The next LENRD board meeting will be Thursday, February 28th at 7:30 p.m. at the LENRD office at 1508 Square Turn Boulevard in Norfolk. Stay connected with the LENRD by subscribing to their email list on their website.

UPDATE: The Maskenthine Lake Recreation Area re-opened on January 31st.

STANTON – Due to the accident that took place at the Maskenthine Lake Recreation Area, north of Stanton, on Sunday, January 20th, the area is closed to the public. The recreation area is owned and operated by the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD).

LENRD General Manager, Mike Sousek, said, “Accident victim, Eddie Myrick of Stanton, was recovered from the water at Maskenthine on Thursday, January 24th. The LENRD would like to thank the Stanton County Sheriff’s Department who brought in the Yankton Dive Team for the search and successful recovery. We would also like to thank the local volunteers who helped extensively in the search, they would like to remain anonymous. The thin ice conditions made the recovery process dangerous for all those involved. We worked as quickly as we could for the family, while keeping everyone as safe as possible.”

Sousek added, “We are very sorry for the family and want to express our condolences. We hope they can find the peace that they deserve during this difficult time.”

Remember to register for the No-till, Cover Crop & Planned Grazing educational workshop scheduled for Wednesday, February 13th. The workshop begins at 9:00 a.m. at the Lifelong Learning Center on the campus of Northeast Community College in Norfolk. See the attached flyer for more information:

You will receive the last printed edition of the Directions newsletter in your mailbox very soon! The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District is discontinuing the printing of their newsletter. To stay connected with the NRD, subscribe to their monthly emails to receive the latest news, agendas, and deadlines on important topics that affect northeast Nebraskans and our precious natural resources. Just type your email address into the box to the right of this article. The Lower Elkhorn NRD serves all or parts of 15-counties in northeast Nebraska. Subscribe today and stay connected with the NRD!

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) will hold a public hearing on December 6, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. at the LENRD office, located at 1508 Square Turn Blvd. in Norfolk. The purpose of the hearing is to take testimony on amendments to Rules (1) and (17) of the District’s Groundwater Management Area Rules and Regulations as approved by the District on January 24, 2013 and made effective February 25, 2013. No changes or amendments are being proposed at this time to Rules (1) and (17) and this hearing is being conducted to comply with a provision contained within Section 17.9 of the Groundwater Management Area Rules and Regulations for the Enforcement of the Nebraska Groundwater Management and Protection Act.

The geographic area impacted by this hearing includes all of Battle Creek, Union, and Warnerville Townships in Madison County, all of Cleveland and Clover Valley Townships in Pierce County, all of Brenna, Chapin, Hancock, Plum Creek and Strahan Townships, and Sections (25) through (36) of Hunter, and Sections (25) through (36) of Wilbur Townships in Wayne County, all of which are located within the LENRD boundary.

Any interested person may appear at the hearing and present written or oral testimony relevant to the purpose of the hearing. Testimony or other evidence relevant to the purposes of the hearing may also be submitted in writing to Lower Elkhorn NRD, or by electronic mail at lenrd@lenrd.org by 5:00 pm, December 6, 2018.

Earlier this fall, landowners within the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) boundaries, had an opportunity to apply for new irrigated acres for 2019.

LENRD Assistant General Manager, Brian Bruckner, said, “The board voted to accept applications for standard variances from selected portions of the District. We received 145 applications for new irrigated acres during the sign-up period, which was open between September 4th and October 3rd, 2018.”

The board voted at their November meeting to approve up to 2428 acres in the Hydrologically Connected (10/50 Area), and to approve up to 2515 new acres in the Non-Hydrologically Connected (Non 10/50 Area), under the district’s standard variance process. Recommendations for approval were determined by using the variance scoring process which has been utilized by the District on previous occasions. Eligible applications are scored and ranked from highest to lowest, and approvals made until the available acres have been allocated.

Bruckner continued, “District staff will be generating letters to all applicants to inform them on the status of their request (whether they were approved or denied), with those letters being generated and mailed next week .” After the landowners have been properly notified, the list of applicants who were approved may be made available by submitting a public records request.

In other action, the board approved the allocations for the designated Quantity Management Subareas across the district for 2019. Bruckner, said, “Each year, the board must determine the annual groundwater allocation amounts for the Wayne and Madison County Quantity Management Subareas for the upcoming crop year.” The board voted to set the 2019 allocation amounts at: 18 acre-inches per irrigated acre for gravity/flood irrigation systems, 13 acre-inches per irrigated acre for subsurface drip irrigation systems, and 14 acre-inches per irrigated acre for all other irrigation systems in the Eastern Madison County Quantity Subarea, and 17 acre-inches per irrigated acre for gravity/flood irrigation systems, 12 acre-inches per irrigated acre for subsurface drip irrigation systems, and 13 acre-inches per irrigated acre for all other irrigation systems in the Wayne County Quantity Subarea.

In other business, the board approved 9 Community Forestry Incentive applications for a total cost of $32,867.95. The communities receiving grants this year include: Madison, Norfolk, Pender, Pierce Public Schools, Pilger, Wakefield, West Point, West Point Public Schools, and Wisner.

The board also voted to schedule a public hearing to be conducted on December 6, 2018 at 7 p.m. to receive comments and testimony from the public on Rules 1 and 17 of the District’s Groundwater Management Area Rules and Regulations. The public hearing will be at the LENRD office at 1508 Square Turn Boulevard in Norfolk.

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District will conduct public hearings and certify irrigated acres on November 8, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. These hearings will be held at the District office located at 1508 Square Turn Boulevard in Norfolk. The attached list of individuals are those who have fields in the Certification Hearing. If questions arise, please contact Mike Murphy at 402-371-7313.

After an early start to harvest most farmers found themselves waiting for the rain to quit. What can a producer do to be productive? How about planning a cover crop planting? It really is never too late to plant a cover crop!

The plentiful to excess autumn rainfall amounts highlight another benefit that cover crops will provide, which is using excess water. Why is that important right now you may ask? As our soil moisture profile fills during this post-harvest time frame it leaves less room in the “soil moisture bank” for storing off-season precipitation.

Managing the soil moisture bank becomes even more important going into the spring when we typically receive heavier rainfall amounts and there is no crop growing to use the moisture. The risk in this scenario is that when excess rainfall percolates through the root zone and out of the reach of crop roots, it takes crop nutrients with it. You may have spread fertilizer in the fall as part of your fertility program and not end up getting the value out of it.

Getting the jump on establishing another living root system in the soil before next year’s cash crop is planted is a big benefit as well. Mycorrhizal fungi depend on living roots exuding plant sugars for their survival. These fungi are important players in the soil biology, living in and around plant roots and providing water and plant nutrients from the surrounding soil in exchange for the liquid carbon in released plant sugars.

A “mycorrhizal handshake” occurs when the cash crop seed germinates into a soil with the mycorrhizal fungal system already growing in it. The mycorrhizae colonize the growing seed and protect it from pathogenic fungi in the soil. The plant recognizes the mycorrhizal fungi as beneficial and begin to funnel carbon in the form of plant sugars to it to encourage their symbiotic relationship.

Another benefit is weed suppression provided by the cover crop early in the season. We have all heard the saying “The best herbicide is plant canopy”. Cover crops get an early fall start and take off growing again as soon as soil temps get to a little as 35 degrees in the spring. Save some money on herbicide…spend it on cover crops.

Anyone who chose to aerially seed or broadcast into standing cropland this fall is likely very pleased with their results as the cool and wet conditions have really favored good growth. The cover crop will be using some of the excess moisture, helping to dry the soil out and provide a more trafficable field condition for harvesting. Earlier seeding makes the use of multi-species mixes more effective as the sunlight and growing degrees available decline rapidly in the fall.

What can you plan to do now? Get your crops harvested and hit the field with a drill as soon as you can. The later start in the fall can be managed by letting the covers grow a little longer in the spring. Plant your crops into the living cover crop, a process called “planting green” and let both the cover and cash crop grow at the same time for a period of time. That period will be determined mostly by soil moisture usage by the two. This is how you manage your soil moisture bank.

At the end of the day, a field planted to a cover crop planting will always enjoy an added level of protection from sheet and rill erosion and gully erosion. Look at it as an insurance policy for your land as well as your purchased and applied inputs.

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District and USDA-NRCS offer some attractive financial incentives for trying cover crops on your farm. Stop in or call them for more information on one of the latest and greatest beneficial soil conservation practices.

Marty Marx from Wayne aerially applied a multi-species cover crop with a helicopter seeding service August 31. Benefitting from Mother Nature’s plentiful rainfall, the cover crops surface-germinated and are set to provide a wide range of benefits from soil erosion prevention and regenerating his cropland soils to managing his soil moisture bank. The jump start the cover crops get also allow them to sequester unused crop nutrients, provide a mycorrhizal environment for the germinating seeds and early season weed suppression.

NORFOLK -- The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) has been monitoring the groundwater throughout the district for over 40 years. In the early ‘90s, a Groundwater Management Plan was established to protect the resource for future generations.

The LENRD is charged with the responsibility and authority to implement controls as necessary to both protect and remediate groundwater quality. Concern for groundwater quality and the growing health concerns for the public, as well as the desire to further implement best management practices to prevent groundwater contamination, are the primary reasons the district has expanded the geographic area of the Phase 2 & 3 Groundwater Management Area in Pierce and northern Madison Counties.

Concerns about high nitrates in the district have risen as long-term monitoring has shown increasing levels of nitrate concentration in much of the groundwater in Pierce County, and most recently in small portions of northern Madison County. Results indicate that of the approximately 40% of the registered wells sampled in Pierce County, the average nitrate-nitrogen level is 11.7 parts per million (ppm). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a maximum contaminant level of 10 ppm for nitrate-nitrogen in drinking water supplies.

Several health concerns are related to the consumption of high nitrate water. Nitrates can be particularly harmful to infants under six months of age. Excessively high nitrates can lead to methemoglobinemia, a condition that is commonly known as “blue baby syndrome” in which there is a reduction in the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood, potentially leading to death. Pregnant women and other adults with certain health conditions may also be at increased risk. Preliminary results from another study also indicate a potential positive link between groundwater nitrates and the incidence of birth defects and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Actions taken in the Phase 2 Area by agricultural producers and the LENRD will help to protect and improve groundwater quality. The following are requirements for the Phase 2 Area. The UPDATED changes are in bold italics:

· Fall and winter application of commercial nitrogen fertilizer is prohibited between October 15 and March 15

· Operators who apply commercial nitrogen must be certified by the LENRD

· Submittal of annual field reports to the LENRD by March 15th of each calendar year

· Defines nitrogen fertilizer as a chemical compound in which the percentage of nitrogen is greater than the percentage of any other nutrient in the compound and, when applied, results in an average application rate of more than twenty-five (25) pounds of nitrogen per acre over the field to which it is being applied.

· Any single application of commercial nitrogen fertilizer in excess of 80 pounds per acre is prohibited

· Require use of LENRD approved nitrogen inhibitor or stabilizer if applying more than 50 pounds of commercial nitrogen in any single application (after March 15) and provide documentation to verify use along with proper application rate

Actions taken in the Phase 3 Area by agricultural producers and the LENRD will help to protect and improve groundwater quality. The following are requirements for the Phase 3 Area. The UPDATED changes to the existing rules and regulations of a Phase 3 Area are in bold italics:

Continue all Phase 2 Area controls

· Require use of LENRD approved nitrogen inhibitor or stabilizer if applying more than 50 pounds of commercial nitrogen in any single application (after March 15) and provide documentation to verify use along with proper application rate

Defines nitrogen fertilizer as a chemical compound in which the percentage of nitrogen is greater than the percentage of any other nutrient in the compound and, when applied, results in an average application rate of more than twenty-five (25) pounds of nitrogen per acre over the field to which it is being applied.

Any single application of commercial nitrogen fertilizer in excess of 80 pounds per acre is prohibited

Require deep soil sampling (24 inches) in all fields planted to corn (regardless of crop rotation)(Each sample should represent no more than 80 acres)

Require the development and adherence to a LENRD approved Nutrient Management Plan

Require annual irrigation water sampling

The effective date of the adopted changes is October 15, 2018.

“These changes are the product of several months’ worth of effort between the District staff and our Board of Directors, and while these changes will require some adjustments for area producers, the feedback thus-far has mostly been positive,” said Brian Bruckner, LENRD Assistant General Manager. “The District takes the responsibility for groundwater management seriously, and is equally as committed to working cooperatively with landowners and producers as their actions are key to a long-term solution.”

“The District encourages any citizens with further questions about the Groundwater Management Area to contact the LENRD office or visit our website for more information,” added Bruckner. “We are seeking reasonable solutions to natural resources issues through increased communication and education.”

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to provide inspection and preventative maintenance services for all propeller-driven, analog display irrigation well flow meters (Propeller Meters) installed in the District. This project includes the provision of all labor, equipment and expertise to perform preventative maintenance services for an estimated 776 flow meters located within the District by April 15, 2019.

These inspection and preventative maintenance services include, but are not limited to: a physical examination and evaluation of proper flow meter installation and operation; removal of the flow meter to evaluate the condition of the propeller and bearings; reinstallation of the meter after greasing its bearings and replacing the saddle gasket; documentation of all inspection; maintenance findings and activities through photos and reports in a format provided by LENRD; and application of an LENRD maintenance sticker to the Propeller Meter. The LENRD will supply grease, gaskets and other preventative maintenance supplies for this project.

These inspection and maintenance activities will be performed during the non-growing season, which is from October through April. Payment for these services will be negotiated between the District and the contractor but not more frequently than monthly for each completed inspection.

The District is seeking to have the Propeller Meters within Antelope and Madison counties serviced (see the map attached). Proposals are for the two counties collectively; bids for each county separately will not be accepted.

The full RFP is attached. If you have any questions please contact Austyn or Curt at the LENRD office (telephone number (402) 371-7313 or by email at ahouser@lenrd.org or cbecker@lenrd.org).

Proposals must be submitted by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, October 12, 2018 to the NRD office.

Being proactive in the conjunctive management of groundwater and surface water is what led the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) Board of Directors to implement a voluntary Integrated Management Plan (IMP) for the protection of the resources. The citizens of the LENRD depend on abundant water resources for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses, all of which contribute to the economy of the district. Water resources are also important for wildlife habitat and recreational uses such as fishing, hunting, boating, and swimming.

In early 2012, the LENRD board took action to initiate development of a joint voluntary IMP with the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NDNR), to provide a needed framework for wise, long-term management of finite water resources.

In 2013, the NDNR and the seven NRDs that make up the Lower Platte River Basin, formed the Lower Platte River Basin Coalition. The Coalition’s mission is to coordinate efforts to protect the long-term balance of the Basin’s water uses and water supplies. A primary action of the Coalition was to voluntarily develop a Lower Platte Basin Water Management Plan, which was adopted by all parties as of January 10, 2018.

The LENRD continued to move forward with their individual plan, and developed a Stakeholder Advisory Committee consisting of representatives from: Agriculture, Industry, Public Water Supply, Domestic well owners, Environmental, as well as County and City officials. This Committee met in 2014 and 2015 to help prioritize goals and action items of the IMP. The district continued to work with the NDNR to develop a working draft over the next several years.

The NDNR and the LENRD jointly held a public meeting to discuss and answer public questions on the IMP on August 9, 2018. A public hearing was then held on August 23, 2018, where public testimony on the final version of the plan was recorded. After reviewing the testimony, the LENRD board voted to approve the IMP at their September 27th board meeting.

LENRD Assistant Manager, Brian Bruckner, said, “The purpose of this voluntary IMP is to achieve and sustain a long-term balance between water uses and water supplies. Protection of existing users is also a major factor since there is still available water in the Basin, and the District is continuing to add new users on an annual basis. This will be achieved through coordinated management of hydrologically connected groundwater and surface water resources. The voluntary IMP is considered a proactive approach to protecting available water supplies to better ensure that the resource will be available for future generations and also makes the District eligible to apply for grant funding through the NDNR Water Sustainability Fund.”

In other action, the board authorized LENRD General Manager, Mike Sousek, to sign the contract with JEO Consulting Group to update the District’s Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The board also authorized the signing of an interlocal agreement for obtaining seedling trees and shrubs with the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts for the LENRD’s Conservation Tree Program.

In other business, staff was authorized to solicit bids for flow meter maintenance on mechanical meters in Madison and Antelope Counties for 776 meters and will sign a contract with the lowest responsible bidder.

The next committee meeting will be held on Thursday, October 11th at 7:00 p.m.. The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 25th at 7:30 p.m. at the LENRD office in Norfolk.

Farmers within the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) boundaries, will have an opportunity to apply for new irrigated acres for 2019.

The LENRD board voted, at their August meeting, to allow up to 2,500 acres of new groundwater irrigation development in the Hydrologically Connected or 10/50 Area, and to allow up to 2,500 acres of new groundwater irrigation development in the Non-Hydrologically Connected or Non 10/50 Area under the district’s standard variance process for 2019.

LENRD Assistant General Manager, Brian Bruckner, said, “The board voted to allow for the approval of standard variances district-wide, from areas that fall within the top five Potential for Development categories as provided on the Classification 4 Map provided by Flatwater Group.”

Bruckner added, “The board suggested an annual limit on the amount of groundwater withdrawal from wells associated with approved variances, determined by board policy, which is subject to future modification if conditions warrant. In addition, a minimum soil score of 90 must be met for any standard variance to be considered for approval.”

The board established a sign-up period to receive applications for Standard Variances. The district will receive applications for standard variances between September 4th, 2018 and October 3rd, 2018. Contact the LENRD for more information.

The 2019 fiscal year budget for the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) once again calls for a lower tax levy.

The operating budget was approved by the board of directors at their August 23rd meeting with a tax request of $4,272,728. The budget of all expenditures shows a 6.39% decrease of $451,300 from last year.

The estimated levy, based on the property tax request, is 2.314 cents per $100 of valuation, which is a slight decrease from the fiscal year 2018 levy of 2.327 cents per $100 of valuation. For example, if a person owns a $100,000 house, the taxes owed to the LENRD would have been $23.27 in 2018, and will be approximately $23.14 in 2019.

LENRD General Manager, Mike Sousek, said, “It’s becoming more difficult to continue decreasing the tax levy year after year. This is the 7th year in a row for a decrease in property tax asking. Last year, we reached a historic low with the lowest tax levy in 45 years. Even with the 0% increase this year, we are expanding our public awareness of our 12 responsibilities and have more projects and programs on the table to meet the challenges of natural resources management head on.”

The funds received by the LENRD are returned to the citizens of the district, through projects, programs, and studies across all or parts of 15-counties in northeast Nebraska. Some of these conservation benefits include: water quality and quantity programs such as groundwater management, flood control, and nitrate management; as well as erosion control, cost-share to landowners who apply for conservation practices, recreation areas and trails, urban recreation and community forestry programs, and many other benefits that protect our natural resources. A copy of the budget documents can be found at:

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NeDNR) hereby provide notice that the LENRD and the NeDNR shall hold a public hearing on August 23, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. at the LENRD office, located at 1508 Square Turn Blvd. in Norfolk, Nebraska. The purpose of the hearing is to take testimony on the proposed LENRD/NeDNR Integrated Management Plan (IMP) and the proposed controls. The geographic area for the proposed IMP encompasses the entire land area within the LENRD boundary. The geographic area of proposed groundwater controls is where groundwater and surface water are hydrologically connected within the LENRD boundary. The geographic area of proposed surface water controls is the extent of the Lower Elkhorn River Basin that is within the District boundary.

Chapter 7 of the voluntary IMP outlines the two controls for groundwater management and two controls for surface water management that are consistent to meet the goals and objectives of the IMP. These controls are 1) Limits on the development of new groundwater and surface water irrigated acres, and 2) Required measuring devices on certain wells and surface water diversions. The groundwater controls apply to a geographic sub-area of District; a map of which can be accessed in Chapter 5. The surface water controls apply to the Elkhorn River Basin portion of the District, a map of which can also be accessed in Chapter 5.

Any interested person may appear at the hearing and present written or oral testimony concerning the proposed IMP and proposed controls. Individuals with disabilities may request auxiliary aids and service necessary for participation by contacting the LENRD or the NeDNR by August 15, 2018. Testimony or other evidence relevant to the purposes of the hearing may also be submitted in writing to Lower Elkhorn NRD, 1508 Square Turn Boulevard, Norfolk, Nebraska, 68701, or the Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 64676, Lincoln NE 68509-4676, or by electronic mail at dnr.legalfile@nebraska.gov by 5:00pm, August 21, 2018.

Following the public hearing the LENRD and the NeDNR will make a joint decision within 60 days of whether to implement the proposed IMP with or without modifications and whether to adopt and implement the controls as proposed in the IMP.

The Loren Pestel Farm at 57161 834 Rd, Stanton, NE will be the site for the Soil Health Field Day on Thursday, August 23rd from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon. The morning sessions will educate producers on soil health, cover crops, grazing cover crops, and more! RSVP to your local NRCS office. Click on the event flyer for more details:

A public meeting will be held on Thursday, August 9th to inform the public about the background, development process, implementation, and what having a Voluntary Integrated Management Plan (IMP) means for water quantity management in the LENRD. The IMP has been jointly developed for the LENRD and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. The public meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the LENRD board room at their new location, 1508 Square Turn Boulevard in Norfolk.

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) will hold an Open House Public Hearing on Thursday, July 26th from 5-7 p.m. at their new office at 1508 Square Turn Boulevard in Norfolk. The purpose of the hearing is to receive public comment on proposed amendments to the district's Groundwater Management Area Rules & Regulations.

The LENRD has been monitoring the groundwater across their 15 counties for over 40 years. In the early ‘90s, a Groundwater Management Plan was established to protect the resource for future generations. As the monitoring continued, elevated levels of nitrates were detected in portions of Pierce County. The initial Groundwater Management Plan contained language that informed both the Board of Directors and the general public, of the triggers and potential controls that could be imposed within a Groundwater Management Area, using a phased approach to managing the resource. Years have passed, and the nitrate levels in some areas are not declining, and additional portions of the District are experiencing elevated groundwater nitrates, including northern Madison County, even with Best Management Practices in place. High nitrates in our drinking water can have negative health impacts, and some communities within the area have been required to invest significant financial resources to upgrade their infrastructure in order to deliver a safe, reliable source of drinking water. Therefore, the LENRD is proposing changes to the Groundwater Management Area in an effort to keep the nitrate levels from increasing.

Due to a vacancy on the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD) Board of Directors, the Board is now taking applications to fill the remainder of a four year term (2017-2020) for Subdistrict 1. Applicants must be registered voters and reside within the boundary of the subdistrict shown below. A more detailed map is available at the LENRD office.

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District’s (LENRD) dual concern for groundwater quality and the health of the public; along with the responsibility to enact controls and further implement best management practices to mitigate and prevent groundwater contamination, are the primary reasons the district is considering a modification of the geographic area of the Groundwater Quality Management Area in Pierce and Madison counties.

An Open House Public Hearing will be held on Thursday, July 26th to provide information and to receive feedback on the proposed changes to the Groundwater Management Area along with the controls that could be implemented to protect the groundwater in that area.

Concerns about high nitrates in the district have risen as recent monitoring has shown increasing levels of nitrate concentration in much of the groundwater in Pierce County, when compared with long-term monitoring data from the same area. Comprehensive sampling of Pierce and Madison County irrigation wells was conducted in both 2015 and 2017, with over 700 samples collected. The average nitrate concentration of the samples collected was 13 ppm.

Some communities in Pierce County have also been plagued with high nitrates in their drinking water and have had to invest in new infrastructure or other remedial measures to supply safe, reliable drinking water to their residents.

Several health concerns are related to the consumption of high nitrate water. Nitrates can be particularly harmful to infants under six months of age. Excessively high nitrates can lead to methemoglobinemia, a condition that is commonly known as “blue baby syndrome” in which there is a reduction in the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood, leading to death. Pregnant women and other adults with certain health conditions may also be at increased risk. Because of these potential health risks, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a maximum contaminant level of 10 parts per million (ppm) for nitrate-nitrogen in public water supplies.

The LENRD’s Groundwater Management Area has a system of four phase levels. The designated boundaries for the phases may follow either natural or political boundaries. The boundaries may be drawn around existing problem areas or potentially vulnerable areas.

"The use of several phases allows the district to adapt different requirements to assorted conditions," said Brian Bruckner, LENRD Assistant General Manager. He added, “The requirements for an area may change, and are tailored to fit the conditions that exist within a designated phase area."

Lower Elkhorn NRD

Nebraska's Natural Resources Districts were formed to help Nebraskans respond to natural resources challenges with local control and local solutions. The Lower Elkhorn NRD is ready to help you conserve and care for your water, soil, trees, and wildlife. Protecting Lives. Protecting Property. Protecting the Future.